Kongsberg Maritime has signed an agreement with the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue to work together in developing new maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) technologies in five concept development areas: maritime operations, rescue operations, search on the surface of the sea, underwater search and digital systems.
Under the agreement, Kongsberg Maritime will provide the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue with access to its hydroacoustic systems for testing and development, including its PulSAR sonar, which can be towed behind a rescue boat to scan large areas of sea and transmit images of the seabed to help divers to navigate directly to targets of interest.
The Society will also test the potential SAR applications of other Kongsberg Maritime systems for monitoring diving operations in the first phase of development, the companies said.
“We want to ensure that people who are missing at sea and presumed lost are found more quickly,” added Rikke Lind, Secretary General of the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue.
“For the next of kin, it is important that presumed victims are found as quickly as possible. Living in uncertainty is an additional strain. Sonar search must be much more accessible; we want to have a specialised team who can travel out with the sonar when needed.”
